Tens of thousands of black-clad mourners vowed support for the Hezbollah terror group Sunday at the Beirut funeral of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, after the group was dealt major blows in its last round of hostilities with Israel.

Women wailed as a truck carrying the coffins of Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine — Nasrallah’s chosen successor, killed in another Israeli airstrike before his new position was ever publicly announced — slowly moved through the crowd, topped with two black turbans and draped in Hezbollah’s yellow flag.

After his death, Nasrallah was buried temporarily next to his son, Hadi, who died fighting for Hezbollah in 1997. His official funeral was delayed to allow time for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon under the terms of the US-backed ceasefire.

The September 27 killing of Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, in a massive Israeli strike, dealt a heavy blow to the Iran-backed group.

As the funeral began at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Lebanon’s biggest sports arena, Israeli warplanes flew at a low altitude over Beirut in what Defense Minister Israel Katz said was a “clear message” against anyone who threatens Israel.

“Israeli Air Force aircraft currently flying over Beirut, over the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, convey a clear message: Whoever threatens to destroy Israel and attack Israel — it will be their end,” he said in a statement.

“You will specialize in funerals, and we will specialize in victories,” Katz added.

Israel also carried out several airstrikes in Lebanon on Sunday, saying they targeted Hezbollah sites containing rocket launchers and other weapons threatening Israeli civilians.

The terror group began assaulting northern Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after fellow terror group Hamas’s devastating attack on southern Israel. A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was implemented in late November after over a year of skirmishes that ended with two months of all-out war. Hezbollah’s leadership and much of its offensive capabilities were devastated in the latter period.

While the ceasefire has largely seen hostilities halted and the IDF recently withdrew from most of the territory it was holding in south Lebanon, Israeli forces remain in five strategic locations within Lebanese territory.

Nasrallah was to be buried Sunday in a shrine constructed near the stadium. Safieddine is set to be buried on Monday in southern Lebanon.

In a televised address to the funeral ceremony, broadcast from an undisclosed location, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said the terror group would keep following his “path” and rejected any control of “tyrant America” over Lebanon.

“The resistance is not over, the resistance is still present and ready” to face Israel, he said.

“We will uphold trust and walk on this path, we will uphold your will,” Qassem said, referring to Nasrallah, adding: “You are still with us, your… path and struggle live within us” and “I am loyal to the legacy.”

Telling his followers that Hezbollah remains “strong,” Qassem said: “We will not submit and we will not accept the continuation of our killing and occupation while we watch.”

He said Hezbollah considered Israel’s five positions an occupation and was relying on the Lebanese government to secure a full withdrawal through diplomacy.

“We choose to fire when we see fit and are patient when we see fit,” he said.

“Know this Americans, if… you try to pressure officials and Lebanon, you will not be able to achieve your goals,” he added, asserting that “officials in Lebanon know the balance of powers.”

“Do not interpret our patience and wisdom in assessing priorities as weakness,” he warned.

According to reports, a number of Hezbollah operatives injured in Israel’s exploding pager operation that caused severe damage to the terror group were in attendance at the funeral.

Sam Heller of the Century Foundation think tank said it was “important for the group to demonstrate that it remains a major social and political force, despite some of the setbacks it’s been dealt.”

As mourners raised their fists in the air and chanted “We are at your service, Nasrallah” and “We are loyal to the promise, Nasrallah,” the slain leader’s previous speeches were blasted on loudspeakers.

Men, women and children walked in the biting cold to reach the site of the ceremony, which was delayed for months over security concerns.

One of them was Umm Mahdi, 55, who had come to see Nasrallah “one last time and see his shrine.”

“This is the least we can do for Sayyed, who gave up everything,” she added, using an honorific.

Since Saturday, roads into Beirut have been clogged with carloads of supporters traveling in from Hezbollah’s strongholds in south Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley.

AFP correspondents reported Sunday that the stadium, which organizers said could accommodate roughly 78,000 people, was fully packed. A previous AFP report put the stadium’s capacity at around 50,000, but noted that organizers had installed extra seating and overflow room.

Meanwhile, a Lebanese official who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity estimated the crowd size at 450,000.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television said the group deployed 25,000 stewards for crowd control and 4,000 more to supervise the event.

A Lebanese security source said 4,000 troops and security personnel were also deployed to the area.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun asked parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, to represent him at the ceremony, while Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam was represented by a minister.

Hezbollah’s weakening in the war is widely seen as having contributed to the election of Aoun, who named Salam as his premier last month after two years of leadership vacuum.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were in attendance, with representatives of Iraq’s main pro-Iran factions and a delegation of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group also expected.

A single flight from Tehran was given permission to land before dawn on Sunday, though service from Iran has been suspended over the threat of Israeli strikes against attempts to smuggle weapons or other goods to Hezbollah.

“It is only one flight, carrying official delegations from Tehran to participate in the funeral,” airport chief Fadi al-Hassan told AFP.

Araghchi, in a speech from Beirut, described the slain leaders as “two heroes of the resistance” and vowed that “the path of resistance will continue.”

Before the funeral, Aragchi and other Iranian officials met Aoun.

According to a statement from Aoun’s office, he told the Iranian delegation that Lebanon was “tired of the war of others” and that it had “paid a heavy price for the Palestinian cause.”

At the meeting, Ghalibaf told Aoun that Iran is willing to help Lebanon with its reconstruction efforts following the conflict, according to a post from the Lebanese president’s official X account.

Aoun told the Iranian official that Lebanon’s leadership supports the Gaza reconstruction plan discussed during Friday’s Arab summit in Riyadh, which laid out a path towards a two-state solution, in opposition to Trump’s plan for the mass relocation of Gazans outside the enclave.

Amid the funeral fanfare, Israel released new footage of the massive September 27 airstrike that killed Nasrallah and, according to Israel, more than 20 Hezbollah commanders, including Ali Karaki, the commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front.

Israeli Air Force fighter jets dropped 82 heavy bombs on the terror group’s main underground headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh, bringing down several buildings.